Appreciation... New Regina Spektor album!

I had been anxiously awaiting a new album from Regina Spektor and on June 23rd the album, Far, finally arrived and well worth the over three year wait since Begin to Hope which hit back on June 13th, 2006! Wow... where does time go!

So let me share some tracks with you! First up is "Laughing With" with a video directed by Adria Petty that is visually beautiful as the song is lyrically!



Equally gorgeous is the song and the video for "Eet"

Appreciation... Anni Rossi

I have to admit that I had never heard of Anni Rossi before attending the Camera Obscura show in Philly recently, but seeing her live made me an instant fan! She was the opening act for the evening and when she took the stage with just her violin and her drummer, Devin Maxwell, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was instantly astounded by her songs, her voice, and her versatile handling of her instrument. I can't think that I have ever seen someone handle their violin not only as a classical string instrument but as a percussion instrument as well. But you don't need my meager assessment of her work, just watch the videos here and let her performance speak for itself!

Live from The Interview Show hosted by Mark Bazer at The Hideout, in Chicago, here's the track "Machine".



Also here is her official video for "The West Coast" off of her new album Rockwell, out now on 4AD Records. This was directed by: Rollin Hunt.

Greatest appreciation... God Help the Girl

On June 22ND, Lexi and I had the good fortune to see Camera Obscura in Philly at the Theatre of Living Arts and the show as well as the entire day was incredible! I forgot how much fun shopping on South Street can be. Especially cool was devoting some serious time to some serious searching for music at Repo Records! We came out of there with some cool finds like an Adorable collection, an old Idlewild CD, a Voxtrot EP, and several other older items, but our two new album purchases for the day were the new Regina Spektor and the Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian spin off concept musical story project, God Help the Girl.

It's an ambitious project and the result is an infectious album that I can't stop listening to even now some three weeks later. The project is supported by a fine website featuring music, videos, news, and all sorts of information on the players and the tale. While I've been lamenting the lack of a new Belle and Sebastian album for some time now, I will say I couldn't be more pleased with this distraction for the band. This project musically offers all the classic sophisticated pop sounds one expects from Stuart and the gang with the flavour of the best girl groups of the sixties thanks to the musical addition of a cast of superbly talented female vocalists.

Here's the video introduction to the project!


Also check out the video for the single "Come Monday Morning"



And if you are still with me, here's a behind the scenes clip I'm including mostly because you can catch a bit of guest vocalist, Neil Hannon's contribution on the track "Perfection as a Hipster" during the beginning of this segment.



Next posts will cover the Camera Obscura show, Anni Rossi, and the new Regina Spektor album! Stay tuned!

How about a new post!

I thought it was time! It's been too long since my last one, but I guess I am not ready to abandon this effort quite yet! I have all kinds of things in fact to go on about like new shows, new albums, new books, my rekindled fascination for Twin Peaks and cherry pie... the list goes on and on! I am also going to try to get many of the incomplete drafts of posts that I started here and there over the last couple months completed to fill some holes in my posting breaks. I can do this and I am getting ready to create another blog with my girlfriend, so that's coming too!

Please stay tuned!

Also I want to wish my little sister a Happy Birthday! Love you, Jen!

Fascination... Twin Peaks!

I've been the proud owner of the Definitive Twin Peaks box set since it came out, but unfortunately have never made the time to sit down and watch the entire set. My last attempt was back in January of this year and my girlfriend and I stalled around episode 6 or 7. But now our interest has been jump started and I am confident after last night's viewing of episodes that we are going to finish it! I hope to thoroughly geek out will a lengthy post once we reach the conclusion of Season Two and take in Fire Walk With Me.

May we spend our next several nights facing the evil of those woods in earnest with coffee, pie, and perfect courage.

Compensation... a fill-in post!

I wanted to post something for today but I've got nothing cooking for the blog today! It's my day off and I'm lazy... lounging and old movie watching is the order of the day!

Fascination... Lost Coastlines

Okkerville River's "Lost Coastlines" is a song I cannot get out of my head lately! Allow me to share it with you!



The video is not what I would have imagined for the track. I suppose I was too literally imagining some sort of shenanigans at sea and less men with TV heads. Love it all the same though!